


all in the golden afternoon

by AoifeMoran



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, except for palpatine the zillo beast ate him, or something idk, what's timelines precious?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28919097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AoifeMoran/pseuds/AoifeMoran
Summary: Truly, Depa is one of the best tacticians of her generation.(Or, the one where Mace gets in over his head while grand-padawan-sitting for a day)
Relationships: CC-10/994 | Grey & Kanan Jarrus, Depa Billaba & CC-10/994 | Grey, Depa Billaba & Kanan Jarrus, Depa Billaba & Kanan Jarrus & Mace Windu, Depa Billaba & Mace Windu, Mace Windu/Happiness, the jedi order/existing
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	all in the golden afternoon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sensibleshroom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sensibleshroom/gifts).



> i owed sensibleshroom a one-shot of their choice as forfeit for a bet. they asked for alpha-17/mace. i sat down to write. this happened instead. sorry not sorry?
> 
> title is from lewis carroll's poem of the same name

“Caleb, _must_ you insist on calling me that?” The words come out a mix of exasperation and exhaustion, barely on this side of pleading and not whinging. Almost in a tone, and Mace shudders to think it, that wouldn’t be out of place coming from _Skywalker_.

The eight year old clinging to his hand looks up at him, the picture of an innocent child, missing front tooth and all. “Calling you _what_ , grandpa?”

“If you stop calling me that, I’ll buy you ice cream,” Mace tries. Returning a sugar-high Caleb to Depa seems like appropriate revenge for the last-minute grand-padawan-sitting.

“Master said not to let you bribe me,” Caleb tells him with an air of moral superiority.

“Two ice creams.”

Caleb shakes his head. “Grey said he’ll double whatever you offer.” Mace scowls. “Unless…”

“Unless?” He knows he’s being played, though what Caleb and Depa’s endgame is eludes him at present. It’s not as though he has very much of a choice, though, when refusing to play along means enduring sad, wounded looks from the two for the foreseeable future.

“I’ll stop calling you grandpa in public if you teach me how to jump out of windows.”

So this is their play.

If he agrees to Caleb’s demands, Depa will forever guilt-trip him about teaching Caleb to jump out of tall windows when she specifically asked him not to. But if he doesn’t, he risks a lifetime of Caleb calling him “grandpa”. Either way, a victory for both his padawan and grand-padawan. Truly, Depa is one of the best tacticians of her generation.

Eyes closed, he grips the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger and lets out a long exhale, an exercise T’ra taught him to help cope with stress. “I’m never taking another padawan again,” he swears under his breath. Caleb beams expectantly at him, blinking innocently for good measure.

Resigned to his fate, Mace sighs and asks, “Do you have a favourite window?”

Several hours, and several dozen jumps later, Mace and Caleb make their way back to Mace’s rooms, tired, sweaty and sporting a few new bruises, but radiating the sort of pride and sense of accomplishment that comes with learning a new skill. Or rather, Mace makes his way back to his rooms, and Caleb pretends to have fallen asleep in his arms after claiming to be too tired to manage the walk back. 

Depa watches them walk in with a smile like a tooka that’s caught its prey on her face, though the smile softens when she reaches out and Mace passes Caleb, still faking sleep, into her arms.

“You two had a good day, then?”

“It had its ups and downs,” Mace answers, keeping a deliberately blank expression on his face, though the sense of his amusement spilling into the Force gives him away.

Depa’s smile twitches the way it always does when she tries to hold back laughter. “I can see that,” she replies, smoothing back Caleb’s windswept hair. 

Caleb squirms in her arms and cracks a yawn, in a fairly convincing impression of having been woken up. 

“Thank you for watching Caleb today, Master,” Depa tells him once Caleb is on his feet and straightening out his tunics.

“Yeah, I had a great time today, grandpa,” Caleb agrees, and he and Depa share conspirators’ grins.

“I thought we had a _deal_ , Caleb,” Mace sighs, betrayal and heartbreak lacing his words, making it obvious where Depa had developed her sense of drama and mischief. 

“Oh we do,” Caleb assures him quickly, still grinning, as he and Depa make their way towards the door. “We do, we still have a deal! I promised not to call you ‘grandpa’ anymore _in public_. This isn’t public!”

Mace covers his face with his hands and lets out an exaggerated, mournful wail, playing the part of the betrayed Master until they are out the door and he is out of sight. 

Caleb’s giggles and Depa’s laughter follow them down the hall, and Mace chuckles to himself, savouring the sense of joy and peace suffusing the Force.

**Author's Note:**

> timelines are fake and the only star wars ships that matter are the jedi order/existing and mace windu/happiness, no i will not be taking questions at this time
> 
> i'm katehawkingbirdbishop on tumblr if yall wanna follow me, though all i do is reblog memes and stuff :shrug:


End file.
